We began our beautiful morning (after breakfast) with a quick drive from our hotel to The Louvre. On the way, our driver circled the Arc de Triomphe. We are planning on visiting there on foot tomorrow, but with the Tour de France3 taking up the Champs Elysees for its finishing area, it may be JUST a bit tricky! It will be great to say we were in Paris for the finish, even though we probably will not actually see it. Ah, c'est la vie, non?
We arrived early at the Louvre and split ourselves into four groups for a bit of a "scavenger hunt" through the Louvre. The teams were: Apollo, Venus de Milo, Napoleon, and Liberty. We saw the top 6 works of art, even though our groups took different routes. We began at the statue, The Winged Victory of Samothrace." Ask your delegate what this statue has to do with a popular modern day athletic shoe company and what he or she thinks Victory was holding in her hand. Our groups broke off into different parts of the galleries from here.
We saw the Mona Lisa and discussed the following questions: is she happy or sad? why are her clothes so drab? and how long did it take for Leonardo da Vinci to paint her?
We viewed the paintings, "The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of the Empress Josaphine on December 2, 1804," and "July 28: Liberty Leading the People."
And we, of course, saw the Venus de Milo. We compared her more realistic figure to those of the super skinny models of the late 1990's and early 2000's, and discussed how we knew she had been created as a statue with arms.
Before we knew it, we were headed to lunch at a place called Flunch. Fish, chips, veggies, and four different european cakes. After lunch it was back to the coach for a city tour. We had a local guide, Isabelle, describe in detail the history and significance of a ton of sights around Paris. We circled the Arc de Triomphe, had a stop at Trocadero Plaza to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower, drove down the Champs Elysees, saw Les Invalides, Le Sorbonne, the Opera House... SO much information! We had another stop at the Jardin du Luxembourg and had a walk around the gardens, see where their bees are kept of making honey, and finished up at Luxembourg Palace.
Next? Notre Dame - W-O-W! We all took LOTS of pictures inside (no flash), and another group photo in front.
yawn - tired - nighty night - time....
Bon Soir! A tout a l'heure.
Dinner was at a restaurant named, "Auberge du Pere Louis" and it was fan-tastic!
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